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Sebastien Ogier says he needs a “reset” after a third consecutive incident cost Toyota valuable points in its bid to defend the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title.

The eight-time world champion was in the box seat to deliver a fourth victory from his partial campaign at the Central European Rally, having ended Saturday with 18 provisional points after building a 5.2s lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak.

However, his rally began to unravel when he overshot a left-hander in Sunday’s first stage, dropping the Frenchman 1.9s behind the 2019 world champion.

That gap was shortened to 1.5s heading into the penultimate run, where Ogier’s rally came to an abrupt halt six hundred metres into a stage where route note crews were unable to traverse beforehand to pass on crucial road information to drivers.

Ogier ran wide into a fast right-hander, clattering the trees and causing terminal damage to his GR Yaris, and was unusually visibly angry in the aftermath of the incident that threw away the 18 points earned on Saturday.

The accident is the third incident in a row for Ogier after crashing on the final stage in Greece, while in Chile he clipped a rock that sent him into retirement on the Saturday.

“It was another example that the gravel crew are doing a crucial job for us. It was the only stage of the weekend where they were not allowed to go through and basically we didn’t have the information of the road evolution,” said Ogier at the scene of the crash.

Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“This first long corner under the trees people have been cutting more [than we were] anticipating. The corner was becoming very greasy and at the end I couldn’t turn basically and I understeered and went wide at the exit and hit the trees on the outside.

“I feel angry with myself in the moment and I’m very sorry for the team. I tried my best. It was really my main target to help them achieve the manufacturers’ title.

“I think I was doing a good job so far but unfortunately it is a third weekend in a row that has not gone my way. It is a tough time.”

Reflecting on the incident hours later, Ogier added: “I need a reset for sure. Right now I feel very disappointed for the team as it could have been another strong weekend for us.

“In France, we say ‘never two without three’ and now it is three rallies in a row that we have really tough luck. I’m very happy with the speed obviously but unfortunately, again this was even worse than the last weekends as we didn’t score any points this time. Let’s hope we still have some in Japan.”

Despite the crash, Toyota reduced the deficit to Hyundai to 15 points in the manufacturers’ race thanks to points scored by Elfyn Evans, who finished the rally third overall, while Takamoto Katsuta picked up the maximum 12 Super Sunday points.

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala admitted that it had been strange to see the mistakes from Ogier, but also believes safety note crews must be allowed to pass through each stage in the future.

“It was looking very good after Saturday and I thought we would be able to catch back on points and take it closer for Japan, but it has unfortunately changed quite rapidly,” Latvala told Motorsport.com.

“It’s strange [to see these errors from Seb] and he has apologised.

“This time, what he told me [is] they didn’t allow the safety crews to go through because of the timetable so there was more mud on this corner and he anticipated higher grip and he lost control of the car.

“With these cars, we should always have the safety crews going on stage. It is a different story with the slower cars but when the speeds are higher the risk levels are higher.

“I think it has hurt him quite hard because he had done a great fight and tried to help the team but when the accidents happen in a row… it starts to affect your confidence and everything it is not easy to handle that kind of thing.”

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If the final six races of 2024 are a shootout for next year’s Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen, then series returnee Liam Lawson certainly made an impression.

Fresh from a spell on the sidelines as Red Bull’s reserve driver, Lawson kicked off his stint replacing Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull’s RB team with a third-fastest time in Q1 at Austin. He was three tenths off leader Verstappen, and faster than what team-mate Yuki Tsunoda could muster in qualifying.

Lawson came into Saturday qualifying knowing he would start on the back of the grid on Sunday due to an engine penalty inherited from Ricciardo. He was also shaking off a disappointingly messy lap in sprint qualifying, which prevented him from challenging for points earlier on Saturday.

So, Q1 was his only chance to make an impression, which he certainly did by clocking a third-fastest-time which Red Bull mentor Helmut Marko called “sensational”.

“You showed what you had to show,” his race engineer told him after his Q1 lap.

“That’s all I wanted to do,” came the excited reply, tinged with a hint of frustration that his impending grid penalty robbed the New Zealander of what could have been a Q3 spot had he been able to repeat his exploits in the following session.

Liam Lawson, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, on the Sprint grid

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“That was the goal; to make the most of Q1 to put everything together,” Lawson said afterwards. “And that’s what we what we did. It’s obviously positive, coming from yesterday into today.

“[The grid penalty] is just more frustrating because the performance of the car, the pace, was really strong in Q1. Obviously we’d only really improved from there, is the idea, so there were plenty of positives going forward.

“[Friday] I knew we had performance in the car, and I knew we didn’t maximise it. I made a mistake in Q2 and went wide and had a bit of a slow lap. 

“We made a further step with it, make some changes, and it’s just nice when you put it all together. It feels like I completed what I’d set out to do getting into the car this weekend. Now we need to try and master the race side of it.”

But despite thinking about what could have been a great starting position, Lawson says he still enjoyed being back where he belongs after watching from the sidelines for the past 12 months.

“It was a good feeling, it was nice to be back in a race,” he nodded. “Being a reserve driver, I probably didn’t realise how much I would miss actually racing and being in competition.

“I’ve competed every year since I was seven years old, so it was a bit strange and I missed it. It was good to be back.”

Additional reporting by Mark Mann-Bryans

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George Russell will start Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix from the pitlane as the result of a parc ferme rules breach by Mercedes.

The Briton had crashed out of Q3 at Austin on Saturday, badly damaging his W15 car after hitting the barriers at Turn 19.

The impact destroyed a new upgrade package that Mercedes had brought to this weekend’s race, and left it with a dilemma about what to do as there are no spare parts available for the new developments.

Although Lewis Hamilton, who had qualified 19th after a miserable Q1, offered his upgrades to allow Russell to take up his sixth spot on the grid, this was deemed not practical by the team as that would have been too much work across both its cars.

Instead, the team knew that losing the upgrade meant it would likely have to revert Russell to the previous specification of car that had been used up until the Singapore GP.

The one saving grace of this happening in Austin is that it is without automatic penalty because teams are allowed to change specifications on sprint weekends if it is proven that there are no spares available.

George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

However, even just focusing on Russell’s car alone, to go back to the previous specification was too much effort to complete under normal parc ferme time limits – so the decision was taken to keep working overnight.

This meant that the normal parc ferme covers that are fitted to cars, to prevent any work taking place when it is in operation, were kept off. This is a breach of the rules and requires the driver to start from the pitlane.

A team statement said: “We had to work on the car overnight during the car’s covered period.

“The workload involved in that was due to reverting on specification to what we ran in Singapore.”

Russell’s pitlane start means Mercedes faces a difficult time in the USA GP, with its drivers well down the order.

Hamilton will start 17th now, thanks to Russell dropping off the grid and RB‘s Liam Lawson having to start at the back because of an engine change penalty.